Paris - Streets and People
—
Paris - Streets
—-
It’s these city streets,
the ones that press on
the backs of eyelids
at night,
persisting and passing
through the cobwebs
of memories
that are spun
like fairy floss
across dreamscapes
where every
passing stranger
tells tales
that skip beats
of a heart
hung on
every bit of
concrete, steel,
and paint.
—-
How people interact with their environment has always intrigued me. I have a tendency to view life as an elaborate film. Every cityscape, street, and landscape forms a backdrop in a scene that unfolds before my eyes. When I was a child, I used to tell people that every time I blinked another scene started. And in a lot of ways, this has carried over into my photography and writing. I craft elaborate narratives in split seconds of the people who are populating any given scene and moment.
Paris is probably one of the most intriguing cities when it comes to observing people against the city’s backdrop. The city itself is a complex set of characters. The days I spent there were mostly cloudy and ominous which was fascinating. I think there is a tendency to romanticize Paris as a city of sun in terms of kitschy Paris photos that seem to populate Pinterest full of lush blossoms and never-ending sunny days. But the reality (at least while I was there) was far more nuanced.
These are just a few photos I took while I walked around Paris of street scenes. Normally I take photos alone. Photography is a very solitary process for me and I tend to be “in my own head” most of the time. However, I was often with either Gael or Hugo from Rendezvous with Paris or (later in the week) also Katherine from Atout France. And, what was strange was that I really enjoyed it. It helped that everyone was a veritable fountain of interesting knowledge and that they all had a super passionate love for Paris. Typically when I shoot when other people are around it negatively influences my photography but it really wasn’t the case while I was in Paris which was awesome. In fact, it was nice to talk quite a bit about all sorts of things while shooting and the icing on the cake was that I learned so much.
—-
Interested in viewing all of my Paris posts so far? Here they are:
Looking for these (and more) Paris photos to view larger? Here you go (click or tap on each photo to view larger):
—-
Please check out France Guide on Facebook. If it wasn’t for them, I would not have been in Paris having the experience of a lifetime!
And I also must highly recommend Rendezvous With Paris. They offer passionate tours about specialized subjects as well as tours of different districts of Paris.
—-
View: My photography portfolio, My Gear List, My Travel Blog, On G+,email me, or ask for help.
